Sunday, April 6, 2014

GLOBALIZATION CHALLENGES AND CHANGE FACTORS IN THE RELIGION OF AFRICANS

Globalization Challenges and Change Factors in the Religions of Africa: The Nigerian Experience

Ngozi N. Iheanacho

Revised into English UK by
Jideofo K. Danmbaezue

Introduction

Social change and human transformation are constant variables in the annals of African history and existence. During the pre-colonial period, before 1884, there existed prominent states, political organizations and vibrant societies and kingdoms – band societies, lineage systems, chiefdom and feudal organizations, stateless, and state societies. There was rise and fall of great empires, such as Malle, Songhai, Kanem-Borno, Benin, Ashanti, Oyo etc.

Within the middle of the fifteenth (15th) century and the end of nineteenth (19th) century, the international community accepted human trade as legitimate. Slave trade had devastating impact on African societies and human transformation, as humans in this period were conceived as commodities. Nigeria was one of the notable slave market societies in Africa.
               
African societies’ contact with Europeans transformed the pre-colonial socio-political organizations into colonial territories, between 1884 and 1951. At this stage, the hitherto independent states and stateless societies were subjected to foreign rule, and ipso facto loss of sovereignty. The 1884 partition of African states under the platform of the Berlin Conference gave legitimacy to the unmitigated European incursion and subsequent alteration of the cohesive political, social, and religious societies of Africa to their interest, and at the expense of the indigenous values of the people.

Each colonial power used its home country’s ideology and value systems as model to administer their new found colonies. Consequently, African states were ‘transformed’ into pseudo cultures of Europe, especially of Britain, Germany, France, Portugal etc. Africans were brainwashed in white ideology. Consequently, they lost self confidence and remained in perpetual quest for foreign things. Many African countries’ name not only changed, but had appellations attached to such names to depict country ownership, e.g. Belgian– Congo etc.

The little contribution of colonialism to human transformation was and still is insignificant when compared to its legacies of economic exploitation, environmental degradation, social dependencies, enslavement by colonial education and the foundations for ethnic and religious conflicts, which still hold the people sway in this age.
               
However, the stages of African transformation are subsumed within the framework of changing world-systems. World-system is a theory in which individual societies are viewed, not as autonomous, but as inserted into the operation of a larger network. It is this network which world-system theorists and scholars like Wallerstein (1974), acclaimed to be the proper unit of analysis through which the fate of individual societies are being determined, principally by their involvement in the world-system as a whole.

This is a type of evolution which defines some general directional trend in history. Some countries’ participation in the world-system has brought the continent the realities of decolonization – modernization, which aim at managing colonial legacies and modernizing its institutions and practices to suit the capitalist world system in which the countries must exist. In another approach towards better human transformation is the idea of African renaissance – the “rebirth” of the “original” African economic, social and political liberties that had been eradicated during the colonial period and somehow resuscitated during the early independent stage of African societies.

The chequered historical and staggering transformation trends in Africa created and TO DATE still sustain social distances in human development. This social state of humans in Africa is constantly promoted by international issues and phenomenon, up till the present time globalization is taking its toll on African countries, like Nigeria.


International Features and Trends of Globalization
                         
Currently, one of the main factors of society and human transformation is premised on the concept of globalization. Globalization is characterized by integration of economies as a result of expansion, diversification and deepening of commerce and financial links, technology and information exchange, and free movement of people. From the lens of globalization, the entire world is conceived as a single market – one large and unified market, free for all comers and competitors.

This is the premise of liberal economic policies currently eulogized in Nigeria, and elsewhere. No doubt, such a system affords players – consumers and producers greater opportunity for choices, and low cost. This is because the system is driven by high competition. It is the unrestricted market policies and forces that have eroded the spirit of African socialism, and communal values. The values that are concomitants of globalization are capitalism and competition, with the revolution in information technology as its main driver. The appreciable impacts in information technology – innovations and transfer, blow the wave of globalization phenomenon across the world.

In travel and tourism, we equally observe the impact of globalization. People now travel with ease. There are ready information and immigration guide of different parts of the world. Many people travel for business purposes, others for leisure, health or for other sundry reasons. Some countries’ main economic base is even on tourism. This is the case of Egypt, etc.
               
Thus Labour migration equally accounts for the significant impact of globalization and human transformation among the natives. In its inbound and outbound dimensions, it brings about changes in society and human development. Consider the numerical strength, and the globalization implication of people, especially the young, who crave for visa lottery of different countries of the world.

The migratory trend of movement from the less developed nations to the developed ones is another teething problem of globalization. Globalization has led to the influx of migrants into political entities, including illegal immigrants choking up socio-political systems to the point of creating imbalance to employment of the indigenes and concomitantly the inability to control and manage the labour force.
To be continued from here
Economic and political groupings operating in the global system undermine territorial integrity and sovereignty of states, under a neo-liberal ideology that, Pope John Paul II, of blessed memory called “savage capitalism” – a type of capitalism which assumes almost a religious character, as greed becomes a virtue, competition a commandment, and profit a sign of salvation. In the system, dissenters are dismissed as non-believers at best, and heretics at worst, (Henriot 1998:6).
                In the main, globalization has assumed the feature of distinguishing factor in international social stratification of the world today. Globalization wears a feature and phenomenon of war of space, in which those who are mobile with potentials of easy movement throughout the world win, creating meaning and value for themselves. The scenario offers a flow of unending choices, and by implication, unending risks, danger and troubles. Consequently, the world is in continuous transformation and change, and ipso facto problematic factors to cope with, (Ritzer 2008:578-579).
                Cultural globalization is a major perspective of transformation in African countries, like Nigeria. The easy contact and intercultural communication underlying globalization usher in new cultural elements such as language, technology, music, ideology, belief, food, clothing, etc. in our societies. All these culminate into new perception, life style and alteration in a people’s worldview, individual aspiration, personality formation, and indeed the transformation of society, different from what it was before. Spotlight of the implications of this aspect of globalization in Africa vis-à-vis Nigeria is the pre-occupation of the subsequent section of our essay.

Globalization, Culture and Religious Challenges     
As a paradigm shift and emphasis on the gamut of observable cultural globalization, we turn attention to operationalizing the challenges and change factors which the variables and trend of globalization have brought to bear on the religions of Africa. Here the religions of Africa are referred to as Islam, Christianity and African indigenous religion. Although, Islam and Christianity are imported traditions, but their propagation, acceptance and flourish justify such perception and recognition. Islam and Christianity are recognized as indigenous to African countries, like Nigeria because they have been part of any known written history of Africa, (see Dopamu P.A. 2000:xvii).
                Religion is a paradigm of culture and cultural globalization. According to Huntington (in Ritzer 2008:581), world civilization has passed three phases and relationships till about 1990. But given the collapse of communism, the main contentions and controversies in the world now revolve around religion and culture – a fundamental aspect of living in which cultural globalization has brought significant alteration into African societies, like Nigeria. Globalization in this dimension of Nigeria’s life has changed events and phenomena under which the religious traditions that flourish amongst the people are enmeshed. Old practices and belief systems are disappearing or perceived to be obsolete, while new patterns are favoured and embraced. The scenario is enhanced by the sustained and increasing integration, interconnectedness and interdependence of different societies around the world, under the phenomenon of globalization. Hence, no society or part of the world is seen as separate or standing out alone.
                Cultural globalization is currently challenging, bringing about rapid and radical religious change, and societal transformation from different aspects of our social system. Such phenomenon has induced changes in human perception of the environment and life, new ways of thought – that are direct onslaught on traditional worldviews, aspirations and value systems. Consequently, there are question puzzles: is globalization aiming at homogenous culture in the world i.e. ‘global village’?, or will it end up crystallizing cultural diversity traits and consciousness of culture, and value differences in parts of the world?
                The variables of globalization are impacting effectively on the religion and cultures of the world, in all perspectives. The process of interconnectivity, as a vehicle of globalization makes it possible that what obtains in one parts of the world, including social movements are rapidly communicated to other parts. By this means, globalization has induced and transmitted many socio-cultural changes, and sundry human development ideologies responsible for religious change, the world over. Many Western societies now have at one end, originally, religious buildings and institutions converted into warehouses, while at the other end of the city, foreign religions which were hitherto alien to the societies are flourishing. In the main, globalization accelerators – internet, television, telephone and other facilities of the information revolution age expose all peoples of the world to new cultures, and religious practices. But for specificity, we narrowed the phenomenon of globalization and its impact in Nigeria’s religious landscape.
                Globalization phenomenon takes premise from the transformation of our traditional societies – from the simple state of cultural homogeneity and agrarian life, with sacred oriented leadership and institutions, to a new world order characterized by new politico-economic world system. The surge of globalization’s capitalist impulse stamped its dominant influence in the world, following the decline of communist power. There from, the variables of globalization, like high level of individual initiative, politico-economic groupings, competition, and free enterprise which it ushered into African societies like Nigeria have devastating effect on traditional mode of production, communal living and the underpinning corporate religious responsibilities that are concomitants of the system. The trend of globalization phenomenon, especially of its interconnectivity of societies and cultures of the world through communication technology, pose challenge to the religions of Africa. One of the challenges here is that the sanctity and conservativeness of our religions can no longer be safeguarded. Hence the unmitigated influx of new cultural patterns and religious practices obstruct the exclusivity of the peoples’ religious beliefs and practices. On the individual level, many Africans now question with ease, their traditional religious practices, with a view to accepting new found secular, and capitalist ideologies of globalization or ‘diluted’ religious practices which are easily amenable to capitalist spirit.
                The trend of capitalism as the soul variable of globalization is even more profound in Christianity, and Islam. These religions have equally responded to the materialist spirit of globalization, by crystallizing positive disposition, and preaching concerning money as a means of attaining human transformation, and meeting human needs, and salvation here on earth. Simple life style, and less interest in things of material value, which were hitherto ideal and fundamental religious teachings of Islam, and Christianity are fast disappearing for preaching oriented in the capitalist ideals of globalization. Instead of accepting poverty, Nigerian Christians, and Islamic faithful are exhorted to doggedly crave for wealth, as exploiting and sharing in the material resources of the world is perceived, and renascently interpreted in terms of divine blessing and gift for God’s children to enjoy. The only difference from the secular spirit is that Islamic, and Christian faithful are exhorted to crave for wealth devoid of fraudulent, and violent means. Globalization forces have pushed the religions to align their beliefs and practices to changing world order, driven by capitalist indices. The trend also leads to change in the life of the human players. Many Nigerian faithful of Islam, and Christianity flout the teachings against fraudulent cravings. Yet, when they acquire wealth through foul means, they are not scolded, but allowed to celebrate their exploit in the house of God. Consequently, wealth acquisition is conceived to be a divine index, and symbol of recognition, legitimacy, and earthly fulfilment. 
                Globalization is taking negative toll on indigenous African knowledge and skill. Many Nigerian languages, and those of many other African societies have been predicted to be on the part of extinction. We are meant to understand the discrimination of African indigenous languages not being global, and not means of international transaction and communication. While we accept the benefits Western languages bring to us, we are however, moved to wander whether our indigenous languages are totally irrelevant and useless to the present trend of human development and transformation, (Ikeme 1999:18). With the globalization facilitated indigenous knowledge loss, the peoples’ indigenous religious practices are on the part of decline and extinction, as both traditional knowledge, local languages and religion are rapped up together in Africa, and more so in Nigeria. The loss of one is the loss of the others. That is, the loss of indigenous knowledge, and the loss of indigenous language is the loss of African traditional religious language. In recent time UNESCO has lamented that such loss lead to loss of humanity’s intangible heritage. In no part of the world is this challenge more serious than Nigeria, and other African societies.
                Cultural knowledge obliteration pose further challenge, as it cause strain to the values of community life, solidarity and corporate existence, for which Africans are known. Rather than such heritage passed on easily to the young, the values are being replaced by the individual spirit, and cut throat competition of the capitalist propelled global system.
                The ‘push and pull’ factors of globalization – travel and tourism, pose another dimension of challenge and problem to African religions, and the human players. Globalization enhance urban social system which challenge traditional societies, religious practices, and institutions, given the resultant population density, changing status, heterogeneous culture, and some degree of alienation it ushers into the society. At the individual level, people find themselves in different social settings and value system, which redefine their self concept and image, different from those of their traditional societies, and religion. Again, the complexities of globalization enhanced urban life also facilitate proportionate complex problems for religious faithful and their clerics: such as mixed marriages and divorce, childlessness and adoption, labour migration of married people, career and family responsibilities etc. All these impact on the personality formation and transformation of Nigerian societies, and human development.
                Inter-religious dialogue is another dimension of cultural globalization, challenging the sanctity of African religions. Through the information revolution of the new world system intercultural contact is promoted. Through such inter-religious forum, and communication technologies, a gamut of foreign religious ideas is cross exchanged. Consciously or unconsciously many of such ideas and practices are adopted, incorporated and internalized in a host culture and religion. This type of cultural borrowing is more so in West African societies like Nigeria, where the people are held sway by things foreign. Thus, world parliament of religions was held in 1893 in Chicago; in 1986, in Assisi Italy under the auspices of Pope John Paul II; in 1990 it was in Moscow, bringing government leaders, scientists and religious leaders together to work towards saving the environment. Yet, there are periodic intra-religious Conferences, such as those of World Council of Churches (WCC), Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) etc. Globalization is in process in the frequent meetings held by leaders and representatives of different religions, who come together to discuss global issues, from time-to-time. Religions have made global issues a perspective concern of their faiths. In Nigeria, one other feature of this globalizing effect on religion is made manifest in Godianism, a modified paradigm of Nigeria’s indigenous religion. Godianism equally attends World Parliament of religions through its leader, Onyioha. As Godianism exports traditional religious ideas, it also brings home foreign ideas to bear on the indigenous religion. Godianism is a Nigerian example of religious syncretism, facilitated by cultural globalization. Consequently, it has lost the touch of original cultural identity of the people, and caught up in legitimacy problems, (see Nwala in Onunwa 1990:33).
                The global fact of crystallizing women’s right, from the underlying philosophy of liberalization, increased choices, and competition is another challenge and change factor to African religions. The variables of globalization promote women’s liberation from oppression, and inequality in social location, and life chances, towards redressing the obstacles posed to women’s transformation and development, by the traditions of the world. In this case, no part of the world that is a major spotlight than Africa, vis-à-vis Nigeria where traditional institutions are profoundly holding people sway. The trend to better the lot of women has taken significant toll on religions in the world. In Judaism, women in the Reformed and Conservative branches are ordained for sacerdotal roles. In Buddhism, Nuns are agitating for equal rights and voice with the Monks. In the Shinto derived new religious movements, and the Christian Science, Lutheran, Episcopal, and Anglican Churches entrust church leadership to women, to the status of bishop. The global trend for women’s right has equally led to new translations of the sacred literature of various religions, to emphasize gender neutrality of God in theistic religions, (Molloy 2002:498-500).
                Nigeria is equally gripped by the force of global opinion on women. In traditional religion, women are questioning customs and practices which they allege marginalize and dehumanize them. The usual areas of conflict are: marriage practices, patriarchal systems of inheritance, widowhood institution and its cohort practices etc. Agitations arising from such areas pose serious challenge and problems to traditional societies, and religion. Hence, many religious practices are flouted by the women. Consequently, threatening signs of polarizing the societies along male-female divide loom large. Examination of the implications of such aberration in the traditional worldview, and factors of social order pose adjustment and remedial problems to the people’s ontological balance and harmony.
                In Christianity, the underpinning gender ideologies of globalization have enhanced women’s participation and role in their churches. Many Nigerian women are ‘New Church’ founders and leaders, with enviable numerical strength of followership. In the orthodox or main line churches, Nigerian women are not quiet recipients of men’s leadership initiatives. They are still agitating steadily to be ordained priests, to enable them occupy more exalted and prestigious positions in the church hierarchy.
                In Islam global ideas about women are equally making Nigerian women to raise critical questions over their status, and the human development implications. Thy now organize themselves in groups and bodies with the common objective of improving the lot of Muslim women. They challenge such practices as Purdah, early marriage, girl child discrimination in formal education etc. These challenges pose ideological conflict between the fundamentalists and conservative practices of the faith, on the one hand, and global women advancement ideologies.
                The global trend in the quest for women’s right in religion is another dimension of teething problems and challenge to our religions. In many respects the agitation has led to the re-examination and redefinition of human sexuality. The scientific advance in contraceptive and medical break-through in the reproductive system have led to the conception that sex is not all necessarily for human procreation, but for intimacy, pleasure, self-expression, and self understanding. This renascent awareness has led to many religious’ faithful questioning the various religious teachings and ethics on sexuality. Followers agitate for their religions change of position against the background of such global awareness on sexuality. Loss of virginity is now being tolerated in traditional religious societies, while divorce is common in churches these days. Gay marriage is yet another dimension of the challenges which the waves of globalization have posed to religions in Africa. The wave of such practice is gradually increasing its tempo as a major problem to cope with in this age. Sexual related matters that were given traditional conception and definition no longer hold.
                Many hopeless fertility cases that were handled spiritually in African religions are now treated by modern medicine. Fertility drugs and in vitro fertilization are two major technologies of improved conception. But the procedures are expensive, making it affordable only to the rich. This equally add to the feeling of the people that wealth is of utmost importance to human, as against spirituality, and ipso facto decline in religious flourish. The global advance in reproductive medicine now makes birth control measures easily affordable and administered. Contrarily, this negates the Traditional religion, Christian, and Islamic common belief that the number of children a woman bears is divinely determined. There is the outright termination of pregnancy, global organ traffic, market and transplant, genetic engineering, semen bank, and cloning. The global market on human, and obliteration of natural human incarnation channel is inimical to the teachings of African traditional religion, Islam, and Christianity.
                Globalization is a concomitant of the revolution in information technology. It is the devices and networks – micro-electronic technologies, such as cell phone, the internet, and e-mail innovations in communication that drive globalization, helping to reduce the barriers of physical distance and contact, (Ikeme 1999:2). This unfettered information passage of globalization give different understanding of the religious worldview of Africans, replacing, and eulogizing global trends that are alien to the people. Although, the technological advancement in communication give opportunity for tele-evangelism, and consequently offer new choices in human development and also in the transformation of society. But many of the choices are divergent to traditional, and orthodox religions. The global trend has continued to foster ‘irreligious persons’, and obliteration of sacred order. The phenomenon encourages secularism, and giving religious interpretation to ‘other’ life issues and yearning. In the global age, Nigerians are increasingly taking to secular life – while traditional religious worldview continues to decline in influence. People now look at life issues and phenomena from experience, and ideas in this world, no longer from divine revelation, or from a world beyond the physical, or from religious authorities or religious traditions, (Molloy 2002:508). As advancement in science and technology continue to accelerate globalization, as its concomitant, religion will continue to loose its grip, while the secular vision of life continues to flourish. Consequently, Nigerian societies now have agnostics in traditional religion. Many of the people now crave for profound life in globalization’s spirit of competition and free market, without reference to God or other spiritual beings. Both scientific and theoretical agnostics in Africa, and Nigeria in particular are beginning to jettison, or even replace traditional theistic religious beliefs and practices of their indigenous culture. In effect, the trend ushers in different paradigm of human transformation and personality formation, alien to the people.
                The spirit of openness, free market, and competition that are features of globalization have exposed African environment to degradation. In the Niger Delta area of Nigeria, ecological and biodiversity loss, via intense oil exploitation to meet global market forces and demand have defiled the area with its incessant oil spillage, pipeline explosion, gas emission, and flaring. These have brought severe hardship to the people, changed their ideology and perception of life. The people’s religious institutions and practices are threatened, as sacred groves, creeks, rivers and shrines that adorn the places are devastated. The loss of these sacred heritage have also led to the people’s loss of identity, and traditional perception, definition of life, and view of the world, and ipso facto the loss of religious and cultural identity and legacies. The implication is that globalization is a negation of the principles of sustainable development – which emphasis is on ensuring that the cravings, and the exploitation of today, in the process of development does not jeopardize the chances of generations yet unborn. That is, the integration of the needs of the weak, the unborn, and environmental friendliness in all human development and adaptation activities. Contrarily, the liberalization idea of globalization concerning the environment is that the market should be left free, on the belief that it would enhance human development and growth, and that increased resources will be ploughed back for environmental protection. Therefore, in an integrated global system, the rate and quality of resources outflow from Nigeria and other African countries is bound to grow, and ipso facto, the pace of consequent ecological degradation, while price of the natural resources continue to fall, and unstable in increase. As the resource base erodes rapidly, so will Africa’s living standards, (Uzonwanne 1999; David 1997).
                The global trend of New Religious Movements (NRM) has increased the problem of globalization on African religions. Although the flourish of NRM’s is a global fact, its origin is not traceable to Africa, especially Nigeria. In America it started with the Apocalyptic and millenarian Movements in the mid 9th Century, led by William Miller. Since then a plethora of other movements have emerged, and are exported to other parts of the world in the phenomenon of globalization. In the East, NRM’s were already thriving in China and India as far as 18th Century. But NRM’s took a different dimension in the socio-political life the region from the following century, with increasing numerical strength. Thus, the Post – 1850 religious Movements reflect the impact of the West and Western forms of political, economic, and cultural imperialism. From the 19th century awards, the newly industrialized and expansionism West advance into Asia for God, glory and gold. Western nations secure in their sense of political, military, economic, and cultural impropriety and armed with either an expansionist Protestant Evangelical faith or an equally expansionist Catholicism.  This social challenge is more profound in China, and Japan, (Merriam-Webster 1999:799-807).
                In Nigeria, the challenge and radical change brought by NRM’s as a paradigm of globalization portend danger for the subsistence of indigenous religions and cultural values. NRM’s have found Nigerian soil a fertile ground to flourish. They exist as concomitants of social change, modernity, cultural pluralism, the scientific thought pattern of life, and currently the globalization trend of world systems. Most of their activities are onslaughts on indigenous religion, and cultural dislocations. They condemn, and even destroy the institutions. Yet, many of the NRM’s engage in practices which suggest a vicious take-over of indigenous religious practices as in ritual prediction (divination), pneumatological beliefs and healing methods. These new approaches to traditional systems bring about syncretic features into indigenous religious traditions, obliterate old customs, pose identity problems, and erode the religious glue which holds traditional societies together.

Conclusion
Globalization wave is sweeping across nations and cultural boundaries. Hence African countries like Nigeria are not destitute of the phenomenon. In all spheres of life and human endeavour, and the transformation of society, globalization is in process in Nigeria. However, one facet of the world system which is taking much toll on the people is the religious, and cultural perspective. The challenge and change factors which follow this aspect of globalization are profound in Nigeria society, and other African countries. This is because culture in countries like Nigeria embraces everything, and all are rapped up and consummated in religious perception and aura, especially in the traditional religious system.
                The feature of interconnectivity, relations and integration in globalization, expose the people to alien cultures and traditions, values, ideologies, uncritical cultural borrowing, and religious syncretism. All these challenge and cause strain to indigenous value system and traditions. The free market principles, spirit of competition and of capitalism which the world system crystallizes lead to abrasive and problematic shift in Christian, and Islamic teachings and traditions. Again, it encourages environmental degradation and ipso facto, the decline of the religious values which are associated with certain environmental features and ecological resources. These obliterate the religious stability, and grip of the societies, hence constituting profound challenges, and laying foundation for problematic changes in the religions of the people.
                Yes, no part of the world can affectively shun the wave of globalization, given that it is a universal phenomenon. But it is the position of this paper that globalization variables, and the effects can be checked and manages. Thus, the products of globalization would be critically assessed from time – to – time. This strategy will allow for a comparative analysis and juxtaposition of the incoming variables and products with the already existing values, and cultural patterns that makes meaning to the people. By so doing, the ‘rich and good substance’ of our religious and cultural heritage would not be completely lost to globalization trend.


References
David Pearce (1997) “Corporate Behaviour and Sustainable Development: The View from Economics” in Bansal, P. and Howard E. (eds) Business and the Natural Environment UK: Butterworth – Heinemann.

Dapomu P.A. (2000) ESU: The Invisible Foe of Man Ijebu-Ode: Ihubiotimo Publications.

Henriot S.J. (1998) Globalization: Implications for Africa Lusaka: Prey. 

Ikeme Jekwu (1999) “Sustainable Development, Globalization and Africa: Plugging the Holes” in African Economic Analysis, 2000 UK: University of Oxford.

Merriam-Webster (1999) Encyclopedia of World Religions Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster Uncorporated.

Molloy Michael (2000) Experiencing the World’s Religions: Tradition, Challenge, and Change, California: Mayfield Publishing Company.

Onunwa Udobata (1990) Studies in Igbo Traditional Religion. Uruowulu Obosi: Pacific Publishers.

Ritzer George (2008) Sociological Theory. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Uzonwanne Jude (1999) Competitiveness and the Future of Africa (http://odili.net/feature/jude.html)

Wallerstein Immanuel (1974) The Modern World-system: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century New York: Academic Press.

_______________ (1985) “The Three Stages of African Involvement in the World-Economy” in Peter C.W. Gutkind and Immanuel Wallerstein (eds.) Political Economy of Contemporary Africa. Beverly Hills, Calif: sage.


I DOFF MY CAP FOR THIS LADY WHO IS THE FIRST I HAVE MET IN THIS LONG ASSESSMENT OF ACADEMIC EVALUATION AND ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO FOLLOW IN HER FOOTSTEPS…….THANKS, MY DEAR, NGOOZZII..

Now see what I wrote some twelve months back before I ran into Ngozi’s  nice and erudite academic dissertation



THE ORIGIN OF MORAL DECLINE IN IGBOLAND WAS AND STILL IS THE ARRIVAL AND DOMINANCE OF FOREIGN RELIGIONS





Rev. Prof. J. J. Kenez, D.Sc.

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IMPORTED RELIGIONS BROUGHT OUR DECLINE IN SOCIAL MORALITY

The Genesis of Immorality in Biafra Was the Assimilation of Westernisation

The desecration of our pre-colonial high moral values started with the arrival of the first white missionaries in West Africa. What the natives called “NSO-ANI” was re-branded FORGIVEABLE SINS and so watered down the sanctity of religious values in Biafra. Its partner, WESTERN EDUCATION neatly completed the ‘coup de grace’ as the foreign concepts and social values of the colonialists destroyed the social ethics of the natives and rendered our pristine mores and norms ineffective. In some communities; “aping the white man’s dress code and mannerisms became fashionable and ignoring the customs and traditions of the community was seen as the criterion of being EDUCATED and MORE CIVILISED than the illiterate folks in the villages!
---------DR JIDEOFO KENECHUKWU DANMBAEZUE, @ 30/06/2013 04:14:32 HRS GMT.


PREAMBLE TO AUTHENTICITY OF RELIGIOUS BEHAVIOUR

Daily we interact with our parents, siblings, immediate relatives and neighbours in our small circles of physical habitations. When we travel outside our ethnic and national boundaries, we run into different personalities we love to hate or vice versa, who consciously or unconsciously influence our lives positively or negatively. Have you ever sat down and taken stock of what you have become over the last ten years?

Many people you see, meet with and/or socialise with are mere conformists. They are those personalities that are satisfied with ‘going through the motions’; doing what everyone else is doing to make a living and waiting for the final ‘call to glory’ as they brand death! Many of us are born and live an inconsequential life; bland, uneventful and without anything particular to be remembered for after our exit from this mundane world, a temporal habitation for the soul.

There are some others, whose lives and contributions to the society made a difference! They changed the ‘status quo’ by either extending the frontiers of knowledge or developing their immediate communities. They improved the understanding of human nature and taught others the values of humanitarianism. These heroes and heroines touched the lives of many intellectually and socially which elevated brotherhood of mankind both inter-racially and internationally.

These agents of change were the true sons and daughters of the Almighty Creator of the universe. They added colour to daily routines and the doldrums of routine existence on planet earth! A few had tall dreams and went ahead to transform them into reality despite all odds. This group devised methods of changing the deplorable situations and the deprived circumstances of the lifestyle they met on becoming adults. Some adolescents dream of the courage to better their social status, but often take off on the wrong foot of seeking for titles, money, fame and crowning it all with indulging in romantic relationships.

 Others dared to pursue the unknown, to break new grounds and blaze trails for followers to tread on. Their zeal, inquisitiveness, passion, persistence, desire, motivations and prayers were fully rewarded if they paid the prize for success; optimism, dedication and the refusal to quit. Their philosophy of life was ‘When the task gets tough, the tough get it going!’, ‘Never say, never again!’ or ‘All that it takes to make the impossible possible is the power to remove the ‘im’ in front of the possible!’ They eventually became geniuses, inventors, explorers, leaders or discoverers! They evolved into the innovators and pioneers who helped to enlarge the frontiers of human civilisations and removed the age-old boundaries of the unknown. They were the catalysts of the world!

Historians inform us that Christopher Columbus actually set out to discover another route to India when he stumbled at the new America and thus opened up humanity to a large continent partitioned into northern and southern halves but naturally connected by a strip of islands. Today, the Panama Canal has made it possible to access the Eastern Regions of the world while travelling continuously to the west! Inventors, Discoverers and occasionally, religious leaders emerge from obscure communities of despised nations to beam supernatural light and divine wisdom of the Creator!

Joining this select group of animators or league of achievers is usually not by accident or by mere wishful thinking. Beyond the routine duties of satisfying the five senses of the body lies the desire to excel in unexplored areas of human existence and the freedom to choose a divergent track that levies hard work is a divine factor that must be recognised, respected and appropriated in unveiling the unknown that the Divine Architect had hidden there for ages waiting for a brave soul to convert it from obscure dormancy to utilitarian vibrancy. This author, a global agent of spiritual evolution, Dr J. J. Kenez wants to know where you belong in this universal continuum of innovators. Or, are you waiting for ‘manna from heaven’?

Those who place priority on breaking new grounds and earnestly search for better alternatives will eventually discover something unique. Those who ask penetrating questions may one day obtain answers from above rather than the routine human palliatives that rarely satisfy the saintly soul. Those who ardently knock on the doors of heavenly wisdom, sooner than later gain divine inspirations from the Holy Spirit of the Original Architect and Ultimate Engineer of the earth we inhabit! He alone has all the answers to all physical, social, mental, spiritual and the personal and socio-political problems of our mundane world, if only we humble ourselves and honestly ask for his wisdom and guidance. But, do we?

The Creator has hidden so much from our intellectual faculties that to date we are still unravelling those He is allowing humanity to glimpse at through divine dreams, intuitions, inspirations and revelations to devout souls! Do you want to have supernatural knowledge mediated by spiritual faculties of seeing, feeling, sensing and caring for others? Look inwards, for the kingdom of God is inside you, not outside as many prosperity preachers erroneously tell you. No one ever got eternal bliss by keeping the commandments of men. It is given to altruistic seekers of that Divine Guidance in the affairs of mankind, which many yearn for but do not know where, when and how to find it. Search for it in this book!  

The creator gave humans some of his powers and knowledge for recreating the material universe for the mutual benefits of all his created beings. The obverse is the case! Today many use his gifts to perpetrate evil. Either by design or demonic manipulation, ingrates abound everywhere and dominate the scene. The first datum that every living thing recognises is that someone put it here and caters for its welfare. Dogs respect and fight in defence of their owners. Every pet realises that it is loved and taken care of by someone who has value for its existence. It is only human beings, who pride themselves of being rational beings that do not recognise, respect or realise that all of us have a single owner, a caretaker and benevolent father/mother. Meditate over this assertion for a minute and provide me an answer.

It is absurd! It is unintelligent. It is unlike what a rational being can do.
Yet, that is only a tip of the iceberg of irreverent religiosity in our global village.

Some learned fools insist that everything came by chance and hold on to the theory of evolution! Despite knowing that the common wristwatch could never have arrived by blind chance and that computers and the Internet had inventors, this brand of demented humans refuse to see and acknowledge the great artistry and creative ingenuity in what they indulge in on a daily basis to survive till the next morning! Some believe there is an Almighty Creator who provides for each creature on a daily basis, some assert that he has turned his back on us due to our congenital wickedness and cruel ways, while others simply deny his existence! 

DECLINE IN SOCIAL ETHICS IS THE CRUX OF MORAL DEPRAVITY

Double-faced Christians and Muslims now abound everywhere; they worship Satan at night and come to church/mosque on Fridays/Sundays! This lifestyle has eroded the credentials of our forebears! There is now, an urgent need to redeem our children from these nefarious practices! We must revert to the legacies of our renowned grandfathers, improve on it and bequeath the next generation a better religious legacy than we had!

If you are concerned that our children need fresh religious air that suits this global village and that posterity deserves a better lifestyle devoid of wearing masks of deceit, pretences, subterfuges, ‘holier-than-thou’ attitudes, then join us in the sanitation exercise. Your offspring will remain forever grateful that a select group of enlightened ‘Homo sapiens sapientis’ took the bull by the horns to avert the perilous moral decadence that is steadily turning all of us into unabashed hypocrites, unrepentant fanatics and deluded mystics. You are welcome!
Culture is a summation of ethnocentric survival strategies that each sub-unit of humanity had developed over the centuries, institutionalized and passed on to their descendants. The sons and daughters of the Almighty Creator have ignored their ONE CULTURE; which is OBEDIENCE TO ALL THE NATURAL LAWS as ONE WORLD RELIGION. That is what we desperately need today just we use cellular phones and the Internet without killing anyone. Respect for and obedience to all the laws of nature is the key for a peaceful world with beautiful people living, loving and sharing the Creator's benefits as equal heirs to his blissful global world that we now share amicably thanks to scientists who have uncovered his designs for our mutual existence. LET US LIVE IN PEACE! This is the ‘One Global Religion’ that humanity needs now for ‘One Peaceful Global Village! Here I rest my case/pen!


The author took his two sons to participate in the ANAMBRA CULTURAL DAY CELEBRATIONS at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in 1995 for their first exposure to fully traditional dances and masquerade festival. They enjoyed it!
RESUME OF MY DEPOSITION
Just type RENASCENT IGBO RELIGION into Google Search and see the volumes I had written on how, why and wherefore our traditional "NSO ANI" i.e. AVOIDNACE OF DESECRATION OF NATURAL LAWS is the best religion in the whole world, yet we prefer to swim in foreign religions and create an immoral nation wherein demonic politicians and pecuniary religious leaders swindle us and smile to the banks!!
YOU CAN FOOL ALL THE PEOPLE SOME OF THE TIME, AND YOU CAN ALSO FOOL SOME OF THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME, BUT YOU CAN NEVER FOOL ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME, TALK LESS OF ATTEMPTING TO FOOL GOD AT ANY TIME.


CHAPTER ONE

DELIMITING OUR UNIVERSE OF DISCOURSE

 The demands of Formal Logic dictate that we begin our dissertation from the very beginning of the theories and practices that gave birth to the doctrines and dogmas that various religious demagogues invented and developed over the centuries!

UNIVERSAL DEFINITION OF RELIGION 

Let us start with this unabridged and unedited from Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009
“Religion is the sacred engagement with that which is believed to be a spiritual reality. Religion is a worldwide phenomenon that has played a part in all human culture and so is a much broader, more complex category than the set of beliefs or practices found in any single religious tradition. An adequate understanding of religion must take into account its distinctive qualities and patterns as a form of human experience, as well as the similarities and differences in religions across human cultures. In all cultures, human beings make a practice of interacting with what are taken to be spiritual powers. These powers may be in the form of gods, spirits, ancestors, or any kind of sacred reality with which humans believe themselves to be connected. Sometimes a spiritual power is understood broadly as an all-embracing reality (see Pantheism), and sometimes it is approached through its manifestation in special symbols. It may be regarded as external to the self, internal, or both. People interact with such a presence in a sacred manner—that is, with reverence and care. Religion is the term most commonly used to designate this complex and diverse realm of human experience.”
“The word religion is derived from the Latin noun religio, which denotes both earnest observance of ritual obligations and an inward spirit of reverence. In modern usage, religion covers a wide spectrum of meanings that reflect the enormous variety of ways the term can be interpreted. At one extreme, many committed believers recognize only their own tradition as a religion, understanding expressions such as worship and prayer to refer exclusively to the practices of their tradition. Although many believers stop short of claiming an exclusive status for their tradition, they may nevertheless use vague or idealizing terms in defining religion—for example, “true love of God,” or “the path of enlightenment.” At the other extreme, religion may be equated with ignorance, fanaticism, or wishful thinking.”
“By defining religion as a sacred engagement with what is taken to be a spiritual reality, it is possible to consider the importance of religion in human life without making claims about what it really is or ought to be. Religion is not an object with a single, fixed meaning, or even a zone with clear boundaries. It is an aspect of human experience that may intersect, incorporate, or transcend other aspects of life and society. Such a definition avoids the drawbacks of limiting the investigation of religion to Western or biblical categories such as monotheism (belief in one god only) or to church structure, which are not universal. For example, in tribal societies, religion—unlike the Christian church—usually is not a separate institution but pervades the whole of public and private life. In Buddhism, gods are not as central as the idea of a Buddha (fully enlightened human being). In many traditional cultures the idea of a sacred cosmic order is the most prominent religious belief. Because of this variety, some scholars prefer to use a general term such as the sacred to designate the common foundation of religious life.”
“Religion in this understanding includes a complex of activities that cannot be reduced to any single aspect of human experience. It is a part of individual life but also of group dynamics. Religion includes patterns of behavior but also patterns of language and thought. It is sometimes a highly organized institution that sets itself apart from a culture, and it is sometimes an integral part of a culture. Religious experience may be expressed in visual symbols, dance and performance, elaborate philosophical systems, legendary and imaginative stories, formal ceremonies, meditative techniques, and detailed rules of ethical conduct and law. Each of these elements assumes innumerable cultural forms. In some ways there are as many forms of religious expression as there are human cultural environments.”
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
KENEZIAN DEFINITION OF RELIGION

“Religion was/is a superstitious search by humanity for its origin, existence, meaning and relevance before the scientific era. The search was led by acclaimed sages among the elders of a community who defined its theories and practices. It is later ratified and recommended for legislation and implementation by state apparatus by convincing stratagem or coercion by politico-religious leaders. Thereafter, it is fine tuned and administered by ordained priests and priestesses who hand it down along ancestral lineages from one generation of lukewarm adherents, fanatics and mystics to another. Gradually, strong personalities emerge claiming divine appointment and so pull strong followers who idolise them as role models with supernatural powers. This obsession confirms them as beacons of adulation and finally leads to full scale idolatry.

Religion, which is superstition sanctioned by the state, is actually an addiction to man-made doctrines and dogmas invented, patented and copyrighted by a few demagogues.
  • It enslaves the mind more than psychoactive drugs,
  • Benumbs human creativity and resourcefulness thereby
  • Restricting the development of the human potential and capital.
It is the main cause of poverty of the mind and underdevelopment of third world countries as its side-effects are indolence, redundancy, laziness and dependence of finished products and services. In the final analysis, it is the predisposing factor to lack of initiative, debilitating ignorance, fetish belief-systems, abject poverty and perennial ill-health. Perhaps its only advantage is that it makes the polity docile and amenable to the whims and caprices of their oppressive leaders. Often, it hoodwinks its adherents into believing that ‘The God’ or ‘the gods’ they worship speak to them through the voices of their egocentric clerics who therefore can conveniently exploit them to satisfy their demonic desires of sensual pleasure and inordinate ambitions of amassing wealth. Their wanton indulgence in gluttony, wine and women is seen in every action and definitely this is the foolproof evidence of their demonic genealogy.” ( Dr Kenez 1991)
From the Animator’s Introduction to Integrational Spiritan Movement I S M Manifesto
SEE APPENDIX A

To rescue humanity from the demonic stranglehold of idolatry that now predominates worldwide, you are invited to reason along with us and see that we provide an everlasting cure for sensual lust for food, wine, sex, wealth and power that are the trademarks of a society heading for damnation! Are you going to sit on the fence and wait for another failed experiment in Messiahship that was riddled with myopic and ethnocentric bias? Who knows the Creator well enough to declare that he has ‘a chosen people’? Where is the evidence that Moses actually led the so-called people out of any oppressive regime? The history books and modern encyclopaedia did not record the enslavement of the Jewish race except as ‘they were believed as revealed truths’. Then Moses, who was brought up in an Egyptian royal court went on to introduce the first and most heinous dichotomy in racism; JEWS and GENTILES! The negative impact of that first categorisation of humanity gave birth to all the nepotic, apartheid and racist policies in the entire world.

There is a plethora of ancient and modern major world religions. In each, there are factions, sects and denominations. It is syncretism galore! The name of the game is “join our own, ours is the one prospering for now!” It is a religious market. It is a mad world. Many nationals all over the globe are smarting under the colonial yoke of Roman Catholicism or Islamism. The intriguing aspect of this brand of neo-colonialism is that it brews dogmas and doctrines that propel fanatical members to kill or be killed in the name of ‘God’. Religious fanaticism or mysticism is a religio-psychiatric personality disorder that has never been classified by any DSM and so has never been diagnosed and managed as other psychopathological conditions that present in health services all over the world!

If you care to join us in a sanitation exercise that will guarantee a better future for your children, then come and witness the development of religion from time immemorial to evaluate its subjugation to man-made doctrines, dogmas and modes of worship that are irreligious. Thereafter, we can seek for solutions as proposed by the computer-age integrational fellowship; INTEGRATIONAL SPIRITAN MOVEMENT, abbreviated thus: I S M. This medical scientist, pragmatic researcher and existential therapist, is proposing that we scrutinise all the religious and ethnocentric prejudices that had enslaved many children right from birth, who were born into their parents religio-cultural practices and were never given the freedom to search for objective methods of relating to their maker and other humans. Can you join us to make this feasible? 
  
………………………………………….……Rev. Prof. J. J. KENEZ (11th Nov. 2009)

CHAPTER TWO

A SAMPLE OF HOW IMPORTED FALSE RELIGIOUS LIFESTYLES HAVE DESECRATED OUR TRADITIONAL SANCTITY; MORES, NORMS AND ETHICAL VALUES

Where I was born, we have this local saying; ‘He who does not know where the rainfall starting beating him, will never know where it stopped’. Another warns; “A rat that joins a lizard in playing in the rain, to remember that when the lizard is dry, it will still be wet.”

In my culture, one does not interpret proverbs. I dare do so for my readers who are non-indigenes of Igbo land; both idioms imply that anyone who does not know who he is or where he is coming from will definitely not know where he is going! The words of the elders of my people of Biafra are definitely words of wisdom. They can write a doctoral thesis with just an idiom or a statement of the fact with a simple analogy!

Let’s look at these: The bat is totally blind and is neither an animal of the sky nor of the land! The bat is neither a bird nor a rodent for it hasn’t any feathers yet it flies! And though it has the anatomy of mammals and a skin with furs it neither crawls nor runs on all fours, yet it feeds like birds, amphibians and rodents! The bat says he knows how ugly it is, so it has resolved to fly only at night! What a tragedy! These unreverend men and women should emulate the bat!

There was a time when Catholic Reverend Fathers and Reverend Sisters on missionary services in this country were really admired, respected and idolised! That was in my teens when the Late Bishop Shanahan was still an ordinary priest! Rev. Fr. Bindel was the Parish Priest of Ihiala, then a very large area extending as far away as Emekuku, Orlu and Oguta! They rode long distances on Hercules bicycles carrying out their evangelistic duties. They trekked most of the time and made converts by using the very few semi-literate natives as their interpreters!

These interpreters were later promoted to Catechists and soon wielded much power! They taught pagans catechism classes in the vernacular language and only those they certified as having passed their examinations were baptised. They stood between every catechumen and the sacraments of baptism, confession, confirmation, matrimony and even the irregular reception of the Holy Eucharist! You could neither see any Rev. Fr. nor receive any of these sacraments without greasing their palms! No girls or women ever came close to the parish houses, not to mention having handshakes with any priest!

The Rev. Sisters wore sparkling ankle-length white gowns and their head-gear with a tall hood and overflowing veils covered every part of their heads except for just the outline of their faces. I never saw their ears! To us little urchins at the turn of the century, they were angels. After all the pictures in our catechism classes were made of white skins. They were all white women. We never dreamt that we would, in later years, have our own black sisters and daughters qualified to become Rev. Sisters. No one ever imagined that a black skinned woman could ever be dressed like these white angels. These angels were our earliest teachers, nurses, midwives and doctors. They ran the few mission schools and hospitals that were then in existence at Ihiala and Emekuku. We adored and loved them for their motherly care but, at the same time, we hated their injection needles!

We were told that both the priests and nuns were virgins. It was even rumoured that they had no sexual parts to their bodies. They were ‘castrated’ was the naïve belief that made the rumour rounds then! We assumed that the nuns had neither breasts nor large buttocks like our mothers and aunts! How were we to find out? The priests were covered all over with their flowing white soutanes that they never put off in our presence. “Did they ever urinate or defecate?” we wondered! I never saw any of them in short knickers although I was a mass server for several years at St Martin’s Parish, Odo-ata Ihiala, now in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State. In addition, we never saw the ears, necks and feet of the nuns. During clinical attendance they wore gloves, so we were partially denied seeing their hands and fingers. “Did these ladies know how to cook?” we pondered!

That the priests were chaste and the nuns, virgins, were assumed! We never saw the priests and nuns chat together, hug each other or stroll along any road side by side. They were discreet and circumspect. They were conscious of their vows of celibacy and public image knowing that they were continuously being watched day and night. So, they never scandalised us nor gave us the chance to suspect them! That was in the early 1930s and 1940s. We gradually began to notice that many nuns went on leaves that were termed “annual” and understood why some others that lasted beyond twelve months were termed “sudden”, “casual” or “sick.” Soon, our own sons and daughters were admitted into seminaries and convents. By the 1950s, some were ordained and professed respectively. This first set never scandalised us! We never suspected that they could lower the standards set by these missionary white angels! That was before the Nigeria-Biafra civil war that lasted from 1967 to 1970.

  • The wind blew strongly so the hen’s anus was clearly seen by all!

All that changed as the scales fell off our eyes. Our religious blinkers were forcibly removed by what we saw during the civil war at the few Caritas Feeding Centres that we naturally located within the parish premises. We saw a lot. Some printable, others not whisper-able! Promiscuity was the mildest term for describing what the refugee women described as own contributions to the war effort! Our clergymen and women were the butt of their sexual exploits as relief items like stockfish, egg-yolk and milk were exchanged for amorous relationships. Some wore the glamorous foreign dresses donated by CARITAS & WCC that were meant for homeless refugees that left their wardrobes behind!

  • “Have they also eaten the forbidden fruit” was the mildest joke about what we knew was happening at our local parishes. There was a conspiracy of silence by all the culprits!

The war unmasked everyone. Today, my ten-year-old niece knows that priests are anything but celibate! Most mass servers can swear that beside heterosexual indulgence involving widows, married and unmarried women in our parishes, our self-professed celibates clandestinely practise homosexualism and lesbianism! It is no longer news that paedophilia is the scourge of the Catholic clergy in the United States of America. Nor is it news here in Africa that our own brothers and sisters, ‘self-proclaimed celibates’, have secret wives and husbands with their illicit children tucked away in remote villages and the dark alleys of streets in our urban areas!

Even among our Protestant communities, legally married pastors indulge in adulterous relationships without any qualms of conscience. Prominent television evangelists are now caught pants down at brothels. In the Catholic hierarchy, most of our so-called celibates, males and females, are not only promiscuous, but revel in homosexual and lesbian relationships. Some are pathological Casanovas and Nymphomaniacs! Hell is let loose as most of the demons there are now living in our parishes and convents. It is more of a rat race than an epidemic! There seems to be gold, silver and bronze prizes reserved for those who excel in this sexual revolution among our celibate community!

In addition, no one wants to be left behind to pick up a bronze medal! Some have secretly fathered children and are using church funds to maintain them. The female celibates go on the pill or commit abortion monthly, dilatation & curettage being their favourite option! Others build houses and sponsor their concubines in tertiary educations. The ‘been-tos’ among them send their girlfriends overseas for summer holidays. Others receive and entertain their white girlfriends, right here in Nigeria!

No one seems to be bothered by this anomaly. Recently, however, some local ordinaries were forced to set up special diocesan tribunals to investigate some of the reports they received from parishioners who were/are the victims of this immoral revolution! Some married women have lost their husbands to some pretty and sensuous Rev. Sisters! Equally, some members of the C.M.O, whose wives have been snatched by vivacious and amorous Rev. Fathers, are also complaining. Who can redeem us from these demonic onslaughts? In the mass media, one reads about kidnapping; which many have re-named “MAN-NAPPING’ considering that most of the abducted are ADULTS not KIDS! Was that ever heard of in the days of yore? That was only possible in epochs of inter-communal wars or slave trade, both of which arrived with the white-man’s settling down and establishing foreign administrative structures and their legal systems. Wife snatching, rape, abortion, nymphomania and all other sexual sins; contraception, oral sex, homosexuality and lesbianism came in the wake of aping the white man’s romantic behaviour that the youths watched on videos and television screens. The acceptance of confessions and the ‘sacrament’ of penance worsened an already degenerating moral decadence!


A KENEZIAN EPILOGUE

DR KENEZ SUMMATION OF FAITH FROM PREVIOUS RELIGIONS THAT CAN ENTHRONE REAL PEACE FOR CITIZENS OF THE GLOBAL VILLAGE
There is one supreme eternal reality; the truth; imminent in all things; creator of all things; immanent in creation. Without fear and without hatred; not subject to time; beyond birth and death; self-revealing. This Eternal Reality is known only by the Divine Revelations from His Grace.
Faith is ultimately the acceptance of the divine authority of the Omnipotent and Omniscient Almighty Creator of the universe we share with all the other beings he has made; micro/macrocosms, living and non-living beings that regularly obey the natural and eternal laws he embedded in his creations for our mutual benefits.
----Rev. Prof. J. J. Kenez (1999)
By faith is meant, first, conscious knowledge, and second, the practice of good deeds. "Know, therefore, that only the LORD your Creator is the Ultimate Reality, the Absolute Truth. Only he is the steadfast Godhead who keeps His gracious covenant to the all who believe and trust in his everlasting love and fatherly care for beings, seen and unseen to the tens, hundreds and thousandth generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments." Hence, recognizing and affirming that this One Almighty Creator of the entire Universe is our Father/Mother and therefore, only to this Creator is total worship due. Our corporate willingness, commitment and submission to this One Creator that exists guarantees all that are alive sustenance, and to His prescriptions for living in accordance with his ordained eternal and natural laws is surely the only assurance of living a good life assured to anyone who (1) believes in Him, and (2) believes in the Last Day, and (3) leads a righteous life, will receive their recompense from the Lord. They have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve."                           ------------- ISM Integrational Faith (2013)

 
FELLOWSHIP OF TRUE CHILDREN OF THE CREATOR
Faith in Buddhism centres on the understanding that the Buddha is an Awakened being, on his superior role as teacher, in the truth of his Dharma (spiritual teachings), and in his Sangha (community of spiritually developed followers).
In the teachings, saddhā is often described as:
·                    a conviction that something is
·                    a determination to accomplish one's goals
·                    a sense of joy deriving from the other two spiritual teachings and in community of spiritually developed followers.
As a counter to any form of "blind faith", the Buddha's teachings included those included in the Kalama Sutra, exhorting his disciples to investigate any teaching and to live by what is learnt and accepted, rather than believing in something simply because it is taught.

Meher Baba described three types of faith, emphasizing the importance of faith in a spiritual master:
"One of the most important qualifications for the aspirant is faith. There are three kinds of faith: (i) faith in oneself, (ii) faith in the Master and (iii) faith in life. Faith is so indispensable to life that unless it is present in some degree, life itself would be impossible. It is because of faith that cooperative and social life becomes possible. It is faith in each other that facilitates a free give and take of love, a free sharing of work and its results. When life is burdened with unjustified fear of one another it becomes cramped and restricted....Faith in the Master becomes all-important because it nourishes and sustains faith in oneself and faith in life in the very teeth of set-backs and failures, handicaps and difficulties, limitations and failings. Life, as man knows it in himself, or in most of his fellow-men, may be narrow, twisted and perverse, but life as he sees it in the Master is unlimited, pure and untainted. In the Master, man sees his own ideal realised; the Master is what his own deeper self would rather be. He sees in the Master the reflection of the best in himself which is yet to be, but which he will surely one day attain. Faith in the Master therefore becomes the chief motive-power for realising the divinity which is latent in man."

Bertrand Russell noted, "Where there is evidence, no one speaks of 'faith'. We do not speak of faith that two and two are four or that the earth is round. We only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence."

Kenez Danmbaezue observes; “ The only truthful thing anyone can say about the Almighty and Benevolent Creator known in many cultures and languages by a variety of names is; AN INTELLIGENT SUPERNATURAL BEING EXISTS WHO CREATED ALL WE CAN EVER SEE, THINK AND FEEL! Any other statement we make about this Ultimate Reality, Absolute Truth that is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent being is mere guesswork that only feeds doctrine and dogmas!












































APPENDIX A

INTRODUCTION TO INTEGRATIONAL SPIRITAN MOVEMENT
The Computer-Age Spiritual Fellowship for Citizens of this Global Village

A KENEZIAN PREFACE

Many people are mere conformists. They are those personalities that are satisfied with ‘going through the motions’; doing what everyone else is doing to make a living and waiting for the final ‘call to glory’ as they brand death! Many of us are born and live an inconsequential life; bland, uneventful and without anything particular to be remembered for after our exit from this mundane world, a temporal habitation for the soul. There are some others, whose lives and contributions to the society made a difference! They changed the ‘status quo’ by either extending the frontiers of knowledge or developing their immediate communities. They improved the understanding of human nature and taught others the values of humanitarianism. These heroes and heroines touched the lives of many both inter-racially and internationally.

They added colour to the doldrums of routine existence on planet earth!
A few had tall dreams and went ahead to transform them into reality despite all odds. This group devised methods of changing the deplorable situations and the deprived circumstances of the lifestyle they met on becoming adults. Some adolescents dream of the courage to better their social status, but often take off on the wrong foot of seeking for titles, money, fame and crowning it all with indulging in romantic relationships.

Others dared to pursue the unknown, to break new grounds and blaze trails for followers to tread on. Their zeal, inquisitiveness, passion, persistence, desire, motivations and prayers were fully rewarded if they paid the prize for success; optimism, dedication and the refusal to quit. Their philosophy of life was ‘When the task gets tough, the tough get it going!’, ‘Never say, never again!’ or ‘All that it takes to make the impossible possible is the power to remove the ‘im’ in front of the possible!’

They eventually became geniuses, inventors, explorers, leaders or discoverers! They evolved into the innovators and pioneers who helped to enlarge the frontiers of human civilisations and removed the age-old boundaries of the unknown. Joining this select group of animators or league of achievers is usually not by accident or by mere wishful thinking. Beyond desire and hard work is a divine factor that must be recognised, respected and appropriated in unveiling the unknown that the Divine Architect had hidden there for ages waiting for a brave soul to convert it from obscure dormancy to utilitarian vibrancy. This author, Dr Kenez wants to know where you belong in this universal continuum. Or, are you waiting for ‘manna from heaven’?

Historians inform us that Christopher Columbus actually set out to discover another route to India when he stumbled at the Americas and thus opened up humanity to a large continent partitioned into northern and southern halves but connected by a strip of islands. Today, the Panama Canal has made it possible to access the Eastern Regions of the World while travelling continuously to the west! Inventors, Discoverers and occasionally, religious leaders emerge from obscure communities of despised nations to beam supernatural light and divine wisdom of the Creator!

Those who search will eventually discover something unique. Those who ask penetrating questions may one day obtain answers from above rather than human palliatives that rarely satisfy the saintly soul. Those who ardently knock on the doors of heavenly wisdom, sooner than later gain divine inspirations from the Holy Spirit of the Original Architect and Ultimate Engineer of the earth we inhabit! He alone has all the answers to all physical, social, mental, spiritual and the personal and socio-political problems of our mundane world, if only we humble ourselves and honestly ask for his wisdom and guidance. But, do we?

The Creator has hidden so much from our intellectual faculties that to date we are still unravelling those He is allowing humanity to glimpse at through divine dreams, intuitions, inspirations and revelations to devout souls! Do you want to have supernatural knowledge mediated by spiritual faculties of seeing, feeling, sensing and caring for others? Look inwards, for the kingdom of God is inside you, not outside as many preachers tell you. No one ever got eternal bliss by keeping the commandments of men. It is given to altruistic seekers of that Divine Guidance in the affairs of mankind, which many yearn for but do not know where, when and how to find it. Search for it in this book!  

The creator gave humans some of his powers and knowledge for recreating the material universe for the mutual benefits of all his created beings but today many use his gifts to perpetrate evil. Either by design or demonic manipulation, the obverse is the case; the first datum that every living thing recognises is that someone put it here and caters for its welfare. Dogs respect and fight in defence of their owners. Every pet realises that it is loved and taken care of by someone who has value for its existence. It is human who pride themselves of being rational beings that do not recognise, respect or realise that all of us have a single owner. It is absurd! Some believe there is an Almighty Creator who provides for each creature on daily basis, some assert that he has turned his back on us due to our congenital wickedness and cruel ways, while others simply deny his existence! 

This is my summation of the problem; “Religion was/is a superstitious search by humanity for its origin, existence, meaning and relevance before the scientific era. The search was led by acclaimed sages among the elders of a community who defined its theories and practices. It is later ratified and recommended for legislation and implementation by state apparatus by convincing stratagem or coercion by politico-religious leaders. Thereafter, it is fine tuned and administered by ordained priests and priestesses who hand it down along ancestral lineages from one generation of lukewarm adherents, fanatics and mystics to another. Gradually, strong personalities emerge claiming divine appointment and so pull strong followers who idolise them as role models with supernatural powers. This obsession confirms them as beacons of adulation and finally leads to full scale idolatry.

Religion, which is superstition sanctioned by the state, is actually an addiction to man-made doctrines and dogmas invented, patented and copyrighted by a few demagogues.
  • It enslaves the mind more than psychoactive drugs,
  • Benumbs human creativity and resourcefulness thereby
  • Restricting the development of the human potential and capital.
It is the main cause of poverty of the mind and underdevelopment of third world countries as its side-effects are indolence, redundancy, laziness and dependence of finished products and services. In the final analysis, it is the predisposing factor to lack of initiative, debilitating ignorance, fetish belief-systems, abject poverty and perennial ill-health.

Perhaps its only advantage is that it makes the polity docile and amenable to the whims and caprices of their oppressive leaders. Often, it hoodwinks its adherents into believing that ‘The God’ or ‘the gods’ they worship speak to them through the voices of their egocentric clerics who therefore can conveniently exploit them to satisfy their demonic desires of sensual pleasure and inordinate ambitions of amassing wealth. Their wanton indulgence in gluttony, wine and women is seen in every action and definitely this is the foolproof evidence of their demonic genealogy.

To rescue humanity from the demonic stranglehold of idolatry that now predominates worldwide, you are invited to reason along with us and see that we provide an everlasting cure for sensual lust for food, wine, sex, wealth and power that are the trademarks of society heading for damnation! Are you going to sit on the fence and wait for another failed experiment in Messiahship that was riddled with myopic and ethnocentric bias? Who knows the Creator well enough to declare that he has ‘a chosen people’? Where is the evidence that Moses actually led the so-called people out of any oppressive regime? The history books and modern encyclopaedia did not record the enslavement of the Jewish race except as ‘they were believed as revealed truths’.

Then he went on to introduce the first and most heinous dichotomy in racism; JEWS and GENTILES! The negative impact of that first categorisation of humanity gave birth to all the nepotic, apartheid and racist policies in the entire world. If you care to join us in a sanitation exercise that will guarantee a better future for your children, the come and witness the development of religion from time immemorial to evaluate it subjugation to man-made doctrines, dogmas and modes of worship that are irreligious. Thereafter, we can seek for solutions as proposed by the computer-age Integrational fellowship; I S M.


Three faces of the Global Village Theosophist and Existential Family Therapist, who states; “There is nothing man can authoritatively declare about the Almighty Creator except to posit that HE IS! Anything else is guesswork, despite the catalogue of doctrines, dogmas, mythologies and rituals! The truth is that out of love the Supreme Being made us his sons and daughters, co-heirs of his benevolence that abound in the material universe so that we may live happily. We, simply, ought to love and share them!
From the Inaugural Speech of the International Animator on Foundation Day 1991

For More Info Contact:


Dr Jideofo Kenechukwu Danmbaezue

Danis Family Villa, Umuelechi, Umuezeawala,

P. O. Box 139, 0803-9097614 or 0805-1764999,

Email: saintkenez@yahoo.co.uk OR agunabu1948@gmail.com 

MY APPENDIX B THEN GOES ON TO SHOW

THE TINKERING AND DOCTORING OF THE ORIGINAL JESUS CHRISTIANITY BY EMPEROR CONSTANTINE & SAUL OF TARSUS THAT WERE MODIFIED BY ROMAN POPES AND THEIR PROTEGES TILL CHRISTIANITY GAINED DOMINANCE

2 comments:

  1. Dr Kenez Agunabu Enochian Beatitudes For A Global Religion for Peace In Our Global Village

    THE ENOCHIAN BEATITUDES

    1. Blessed are those who obey all the Natural Laws in creation, For theirs is the Kingdom of God, personally guaranteed by The Almighty Creator of the universe.

    2. Blessed are those who recognise that all human beings are their brothers and sisters, For their portion is the possession of the true Egalitarianism.

    3. Blessed are those who know that we all share the same air, water, blood plasma, sun and moon, For this native insight shall reward them with filial love and care for others.

    4. Blessed are those who realise that we all walk and plant on the same ground, For social justice and the joy of sharing shall be their everlasting benefits.

    5. Blessed are those who wake up early each morning thanking and praising God, For this acknowledgement shall bring them divine blessings and peace of mind.

    6. Blessed are all that recognise that equality at birth is the L.C.M. of human life, For theirs is the philosophic insight that eradicates apartheid and abrogates racism.

    7. Blessed are the wise who know that we return to this human equality at death, For theirs are the social virtues and simple lifestyles it inculcates in all wise people.

    8. Blessed are the genuine proponents and practitioners of true family life, For, through lovely children and happy homes, they shall inherit eternal life.

    9. Blessed are all who train themselves to restrain their thoughts and guard their speech, For they will be respected by and confided in by those who interact with them anywhere.

    10. Blessed are the few who have conquered their appetites for food, drinks and sex, For true happiness based on control of their will power shall be crowns on their heads.

    BLESSED ARE THE TRUE DISCIPLES OF PATRIARCH ENOCH FOR
    • SUCCESSFUL LONG LIVES,
    • GOOD HEALTH IN OLD AGE, &
    • PHYSICAL ASCENSION INTO HEAVEN SHALL BE
    THE ETERNAL PRIZES RESERVED FOR THEM BY GOD!

    Inspired by the Holy Spirit and written down at 3.30 a.m. on the 11th of March, later improved on and modified till 9.35 a.m. on 26th July, 2004 by Rev. Prof. J. J. Kenez D.Sc.

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  2. WELCOME TO INTEGRATIONAL SPIRITAN MOVEMENT FOR A GLOBAL PEACE
    YOU ARE EXCEPTIONALLY FORTUNATE TO JOIN US IN PROMOTING DESIRABLE PROGRAMMES TO ENTHRONE A WORLD FILLED WITH FAMILY HEALTH, SOCIAL SUCCESS AND OPTIMUM HAPPINESS, SOCIETY OF RATIONAL BEINGS; I . S . M i.e. INTEGRATIONAL SPIRITAN MOVEMENT; THE CRUSADERS FOR A LASTING GLOBAL PEACE.
    Our mission is; “A global peace initiative for conscientiously seeking ways of healing the world of xenophobia and/or religious bigotry and our target is abrogating all forms of racial prejudices and halting current ethnic cleansings by denouncing religious fanaticism so we can enthrone a lasting global peace for our global village" Your wisdom in joining us will be better appreciated when you have gotten 100 members to become part of this Worldwide Peace Crusade.
    Your duty is SIMPLY to make our dissertations available to each new member and conduct weekly seminars where you all discuss the most efficient and effective ways of implementing our global objectives of having: ONE ALMIGHTY CREATOR, ONE CREATED UNIVERSE AND THEREFORE ONE HUMAN FAMILY. Send us their emails and passports for registration so we can come and inaugurate all of you as a community chapter. You will then be our Co-ordinator & Chairperson for that chapter.
    My emails are; agunabu1948@gmail.com & saintkenez@yahoo.co.uk
    Aim:
    a. Encouraging sound academic excellence in society through active research publications on the Internet, thereby changing society through academic leadership and in humble humanitarian services to communities members live in, thus changing the political climate in developing nations through intellectual empowerment for service

    Objective Strategems:
    i. Organising Symposiums, Awards, and Rallies to challenge social ills, oppression of the poor, less privileged and the downtrodden
    ii. Delegating members and awardees to government agencies to speak for the less
    privileged and also to challenge injustice, corruption, and abuse of Human Rights
    iii. Carrying out research to empower people for job creation and Poverty thus eradicating through creative Education and skill development

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